LOCAL AND GENERAL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue VII, 20 November 1889, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

♦ The fibres of the banana plant are now being used for the manufacture of paper. About four millions of Britons, not oolonists, live abroad m foreign countries* The remains of a petrified forest of gigantio tvees has been discovered m Arizona, U.S.A. Ten thousand people perished m the recent floods m Wakayama, Japan, and 20,000 others were tendered homeless, , The lecture announced to be given by Mr B. Hughes last evening did not come off, the amount of patronage aooorded being too BmalU The vendors of the patent rights m the Wolseley sheep-shearing maobine, to the new company now being foimed m London to control the invention, are to receive £75,000 m cash and Bhares to the amount of £60,000. , The honor of having the moat magnificent private house m New York belongs, it ia said, to Henry G, Marquand,, the Madison Avenue millionaire. Almoßt 2,-000,000 dollars, it is dbid, were spent by him for the decorations alone, Stout Lady: "Sir, I beg that you will deeist from following me, or I shall oall a constable." Perspiring Stranger : " Pray ion't say so. It's the only bit of shade m the whoie park. I'd do an muoh for you, but my shadow isn't worth mentioning," The Cm* ig making a collection of postage staui^B, and is prepared to pay any price tot Bueh as he may want. He lately bought a defaced stamp of British Guiana, dated 1851, for 925 fraco i, and an unuß&d npeoimen of the same stamp for 1250 francs (£SO). Italy is one of the moat richly endowed of countries m the fertility of its soil; but through the ignorance and antiquated methods of the peasantry, the average yield of wheat is only 12 bushels per aore, compared with 18 busbelß, the average for France, and 30 bushels for England. The " Otsgo Daily Times " ha 3no hesitation m predicting that no Exhibition sinoe J.B6J. will have been anything like as ready oo the opeDJng day as the present one, and that if it is not absolutely complete, the gaps will be co few and far between that no one will perceive them. The "Lyttelton Times" states that the Directors of the Midland Railway Company m addition to the free pass granted onoe a year, hayfl agreed that their men, together with their wives and children under fifteen years of age, sjiaU Jjfl .allpwed to travel to any station on the Company's syctem at one-fourth of the ordinary fare. AH that ia best m the othios of the modern world, m so far as ;t has not grown out of Greek thought, or barbarian manhood, is the direct development of the ethics of old Israel. There is no code of legislation, anojent of modern, at onoe so just and so meroiful, bo tender to the weak and poor, as the Jewish law. — Professor Huxley. The anniversary services of the Waterton Wjosleyan Charon take plaoe on Sunday next, when the sermons wjll be preached by Mr J. E? Buchanan. The annual tea meeting is appointed Icy dr^esday next, and at the aftor-meetin will be 'addresses by ministers , t ere, and muflio by tho Willowby ohoir. It would appear that a New Zealand horse is likely to figure on the English turf shortly, as the '•' 3Jew Zealand Times " learns from a private letter recently reoeived from Australia, and the writer of whioh is able to speak with some authority, that jt ia probable that Mr D. B. Wallace, the celebrated Australian sportsman, will proceed to England shortly, taking Oarbine with him. Steps are being taken for the preservation o{ the ancient monuments of Egypt, whioh are bef ng OQflst&nt'y in jured by natural onuses, and by tho depredations and ravaged of Arau? and tourists. A n^olv has been already organised for this purpose and It \p esUmatod that the institution of a system of vigilant guardianship will entail an annual outlay of £8500. Diving for black pearls employs a large Dumber of men and boats off the coast of Lower California, graders BUpply the vessels and diving apparatus upon the stipulation that the pearls that are found are to be sold to them at specified rates. These jewels are of muoh b&auty and highly prized, A year's productioa is worth on an average from £100,000 to £200,000. An inquest was held at Birmingham on the body of William Bishop, tho Bteoplojaok, who fell from a lofty chimney on whioh ue was at work. His iwife, m bor evidenoo boforo she Goronprj said that op the previous night the accident was foretold .to hejr m every detail ia a dream, and that her I'aßj. words to her husband as he left homo were, " Bill, remetn< bar her dream, sod be careful, '' A contemporary elates that Dr Eisenraanu, • of Berlin, has invented a piano which, by the aid of eleotro-magnetißD3, can sustain, increase, and diminish sound; This has been attempted by other oxpmrtß, notably Boohra, the inventor of tho metal iluto. Anothor novelty will be that by moving the eleotromagnets tho timbre of fho tone is obanged ; for example, from that of a yjalonoello to a piooolo. . Oar Rakaia correspondent writes:— Tho oonoert m aid of tho Library fund, whioh wjll be held ia the Town Hall on Friday promises to be a great Buoqessf The Gates family from Ashburton, Missjloe, Mr V/. B, PJxoa, Mr Story and many others baye promised as r sislanoo and those who are fond of good musio will bo able to enjoy a pleasant evening. I After the concert there will bo a ball, muBJo Jf being supplied, by Me Gutes' band,

Mr Henry Zander announces that ho is a purchaser of fowls, duoks, geese, and turkeys ia any quantity. \ A simultaneous shooting matob between teaniß picked from the Ashburton Rifloa and Guards, G;.-raldine, Temuka, Timara, and Waimate Biflee, baa been arranged to be fired | to-morrow morning at five o'olook. Eaoh ' oompany fires on its own. range, the oonditions | being ten men a aide, seven shots eaoh at two, ! tniee, and five hundred yards, Wimbledon. ' targets and scoring, no avorage allowed for absentees. Wo learn from the "Lyttelton Times" that killing at the Frozen. Meat Works, Belfast, will be suspended for a fortnight, ia order to allow of a general clearing up, and the completion of sundry minor worka m connection with the establishment. A busy season is anticipated when they re-open, aa a very large number ,of Bheep have been booked for killing ; the average will be about 30,000 a month for several months to come. It is said that thero are women m the West End of London who go about armed with small squirt guna filled with dirty water, with whidh they slyly soil the ooaio or dresses of peraona whom they pasß. Then [they mtot ihe persons, and, with elaborate bows, beg pardon for oalling attention to the faot that the dress or coat is splashed, and offer to wipe it off with a clean white apron. Nine timea out of ten tbe triok bringa a generous tip. Civilised people have had their laugh over the ourious Chinese perforated money ; but it ) EOems that the French are about to inaugurate a similar system m their small ooins. The French mint will soon replace the copper aous with niokols. Singuarly enough the five and ten centime pieoeß will be perforated m the centre, after the manner of Chinese ooins. This enables them to be strung and counted or handled with great ease. — Exohango. A few days ago m the busiest part of King street, Sydney, James Henry Bartlett, who carried on business as a man's mercer, waa shot near the front of his own shop. He had had a quarrel with a man named Willoughby Andrew about the non-payment of goods, and Andrew oame up deliberately and ahot him. Bartlett is since dead. Andrew, who has previously been m buaineaa sb an auctioneer m Brisbane, haa been aoting m a very eccentriojimanner lately, but Bartlett appears to have aitaohed jlittls or no importance to the wild threats uttered by him: Bartlett was 27 years old, and had a wife and ohildrenr The British War Office has oommonced the issue of new rifles (the mark No. 4 MartiniHenry) to several Volunteer corps, and espeoially those equipped with the aword bayonets. A great improvement has been introduoed m the sights, the foresight being on an inolined plane so that there is no block to come into the line when taking aim. The sword is Bhorter than formerly, and quite straight, with the knob of the spring (made like a button with a flat top) on tho front instead of on the baok of the hilt. The lever is much longer than m the rifles now m use, and the rear of the breeoh block is made differently there being no place for the thumb, and the Hock raised so that the thumb oan lie behind it. The Melbourne "Leader" saya that the phenomenon of " blood rain " was witnessed there recently. Shortly before daybreok those whose business took them out of doora were surprised to fool something m tho rain falling that Btuok to their faces, hands, and olothea, and closer examination revealed them io be covered with Bmall drops of gelatinous matter having all the appearance of dotted blood. At daybreak the footpaths of the. town were eprinklei with the extraordinary fall, which on examination proved to be shaped like a small worm, and whioh gradually underwent a course of 'Jisaolution until it was trampled out of eight. The phenomenon of '« blood* rain " is to be read of m the tradii tiens of the past century, and was considered by the anoients a sure precuraor of a plague. A Oalifornian paper has the following : — The bees have literally taken possession of Bufus Einnoy'aresidenoe, transforming it into a vast apiary and compelling the family to vacate portions of the bouse* Every nooog. oible put of the house is filled with bees ; the walls are transformed into hives; At least a dozen polonioa have lodged themselves under the building, and the pugnacious little raaoa's dispute with the ownors every part of the house from cellar to garret. And - stilt" from every quarter new swarms are daily coming, some daya as many as three or four different colonies arrive, and despite the faot that Mr Einney has killed as many aa twelyo Bwarma already this soaeon, they are gaining rapidly on him, and he is seriously contemplating the necessity of moving out and leaving the bees m full possession of the premises. .Reports from other quarters show Bimilar but not serious conditions. Writing of Mr HiMop and bis decoration the " Timaru Herald " eaya : — " We are strongly inclined to the belief that the ribbon was actually intendod for Mr Fisher. It was a little bit of cheap civility to tho colony, whioh the Minister, by a convenient fioticß, might on such an oooasion be supposed to represent. Under the peouliar oiroumstanoea there could not possibly be any personal honor and glory attaching to the distinction. However, if Mr Fißher was the Real Simon Pure he ought to have had the ribbon, and Mr Hislop ought to decline it and point out tbe mistake. He haß reoeivad a good many hints to that effeofc sinae ' the publication of the cable message, but haß given no sign. There ia of coarse the bare possibility that Mr Hißlop personally baa done something bo meritorious aa to have attracted the attention of the French Government and induoed them to admit him to the Legion of Honour. If so b.O must be aware of the facts, and after all that has been eaid on tbe subjeot, ho should, we think, take the publio jnto his confidence and let them know 1 al} about ib. As at present advised we look upon Mr Hislop's bit of red ribbon as about the meanest thing of the kind on record." Statutory Declaration.— l, Franz Babbo, Ironbark, Sandhurst, m the colony of Viatoria, Australia, do solemnly and sinoerely deolare that on the 25th June, 1877, my son Alfred, cis years of age, was accidentally hurt with an axe on hiß knee. lat onoe took all pains to secure medical assistance. However, m spite oE all efforts, on the 27th August, 1877, the opinion v/aa given by Dr Maogillivray that an amputation of the injured limb had become imperative, m order' tq save life. At this juncture I called on Messrs Sander and Sons, procuring some of their Extraot of the Euoalyptua Globulus, and by the application of the same I hod the satisfaction of seeing my son within a fortnight out of all danger and ta-day be ia reppvewd. I may just add tha it was when tho crisis had be/v re^ohed that the Extraot -eterred to'waafi'rs.t ap'pjiba. and I make this /solemn declaration, eto.— Fbanjs Raabb. pectoral at Qanuhurp't, m tlje colony of Victoria, Australia, th.ia seventeenth day of October, OQQ thousand eight hundred and eeventy-aoven before me, Morittf Gohn, J.P.-fAAvM 6